urge parliamentary scrutiny of the state within a state of the Khakis, especially the dreaded spy agency (DGFI). The interference of the Khakis into state politics will once again jeopardize institutionalization of elective democracy, good governance and secularism. The rogues fear social justice activists, critics, politicians and journalists too - Joy Manush!

Monday, March 18, 2013

Kerbside History: The world mustn’t misinterpret a country’s fight for its syncretic soul

SEVERAL MISCONCEPTIONS are
afloat around the war crimes trials in Bangladesh,
as well as the Shahbag Square
protests, that are putting pressure on the government to take concrete steps
against the Jamaat-e-Islami in Bangladesh.

Critics of the International
Crimes Tribunal (ICT) have voiced reservations about the process of the trial,
some have dubbed it ‘unfair’. Another allegation is that the trials are being
used against political rivals and ‘opposition’ political figures. Such concerns
have percolated through the western media, lobbied by a well-oiled PR machinery
working on behalf of a few leading Jamaat figures.

What these detractors fail to
understand is that the country, after sending a powerful army back to the
barracks through a popular uprising in 1989, is trying its best to get back to
its founding principles—the syncretic secular values of the Bengali culture. It
is also extremely important for them to have a closure to events surrounding
the ’71 war of liberation—a massively emotive issue among a majority of
Bangladeshis, both in the country and abroad. The ict is a major step towards
these goals.

The country and the state
hasn’t created lynch mobs or death squads, or set up summary trials and simply
kill opposition leaders, many of whom had admitted to have been involved in the
atrocities committed in 1971. The ICT is pursuing the rule of law—however
flawed—based on established norms. Also, let us not forget that the
establishment of such special tribunals have always been a matter of huge debate
all over the world—hailed or abused depending on which side tends to be on
trial.

One sees mostly simplistic
commentaries in the Indian and the international media. The huge gatherings at Shahbag Square are
not about demanding death for a few Jamaat leaders. It is a lot more than that.
It is going to decide which way Bangladesh
will turn—towards its secular base founded on syncretism, or towards religious
extremism, an alien concept imported by the Jamaat.

Leading figures of the current
movement that calls itself ‘Generation 70’ did not even witness the war of
liberation in ’71 and the atrocities committed by the brutal Pakistani army and
its collaborators—Jamaat-led groups like Razakars and al-Badar. Memories of
those atrocities have been etched forever in the collective consciousness of
the nation. But this younger generation is not just drawing inspiration from
memories; one must keep in mind that many of them did lose near and dear ones,
killed by the collaborators. Not surprisingly, their demand for justice for the
1971 atrocities resonated with Bangladeshis, and they spontaneously began
converging on Shahbag Square.

In a way, this younger
generation has been able to rekindle the spirit of the 1952 language movement,
which was mounted against attempts by the ruling West Pakistani elite to
impose Urdu as the national language on the Bengali-speaking East
Pakistan. That year also laid the foundation for a dream of a
secular nation, a dream fulfilled in 1971 after a mass uprising followed by a
bloody, nine-month war. Similarly, a multitude poured on to the streets in
December 1989, fought pitched battles with soldiers, and forced the military
dictatorship to abdicate power.

What these crucial events in
the history of Bangladesh
establish is that its people have a tremendous capacity to correct the path of
its polity whenever it veered away from its core value of liberal syncretism.

Jamaat, an extension of the
Salafist doctrine, is a living refutation of these Bangladeshi ideals. Hence,
throughout the ’80s and the ’90s, targets of Jamaat and its associated terror
groups such as JMB (Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh),
JMJB (Jagrata Muslim Janata Bangladesh)
or HUJI (Harkat-ul-Jihad-i-Islami) were the progressive, secular elements of
society and rural women empowered by NGOs.

The Jamaat is also in a
desperate struggle. They can sense the rising public sentiment against them;
thus they have embarked on a path of violent confrontation with the state. By
blaming India, Hindus in Bangladesh and
orchestrating attacks on minorities, they are merely trying to divert attention
from the real issues.

The Shahbag Square uprising,
fuelled by the elite, middle class and subalterns alike—in sharp contrast to
the Anna Hazare-led movement in India—finds Bangladesh in another watershed
moment in its history. The world is witnessing a course correction of momentous
nature, but unfortunately fails to grasp its importance. Like 1952 and 1971,
this uprising appears to be the beacon that will decide Bangladesh’s future.